Tag: craft beer bar

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Toronado as Meme

It seems like famed San Francisco craft beer bar, the Toronado might be sold to a tech bro / crypto clod with the hilarious name of Orion Parrott.

I have only visited the bar once and truthfully did not cotton to the vibe and felt like I was intruding on someone else’s patch.  But I am in the minority on that and I cannot imagine a scenario that Parrott’s version somehow does the bare minimum of keeping it as previous owner Dave Keene did let alone build on the tremendous goodwill and brand that was built, tap by tap.

Read the story HERE and join me in seeing how this plays out.

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The Greyhound

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Arriving with my Mom in tow and with mere minutes to spare before the close of Happy Hour at the Greyhound, a new craft beer, wine and cocktail bar in Highland Park (near the big Highland Theater sign), I order up a Cismontane Blacks Dawn and a salad.  The total for me: $8.

Once you slap yourself for being too late to order a second round, you realize the place is loud.  Really loud.  With ebbs and flows as the pulsing music finishes one song and people don’t have to scream over the music until the next song comes back on.

The decor is nice and so is the tap list.  On the night of my visit they had a goodly number of solid choices along with a rotating duo of hoppy selections.  I would put it solidly in the B category.  It isn’t one of those lists that has a nod to craft which is what I call D, nor is it the national easy choices of a C.  I will re-visit and see if that grade is fair when another set of beers goes on tap but it is good though not as strong as Maximiliano or the Hermosillo.

I wasn’t a fan of the decibels though it didn’t bother my mom a whit.  That is what happy hour prices can do.

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1 Tried – Hermosillo

I finally got around to grabbing a beer at the newHermosillo in Highland Park.

It is located in the gentrifying Highland Park boulevard of York. Where you can also imbibe at Maximilliano and the York on York. It is a nice and well lit place with a large and pretty dark wood bar that takes up most of the space.

I like the outward street view stools and the old school banquette seating and most importantly, the 12 tap beer list is pretty solid with Eagle Rock, Green Flash and Port (I had the 6th anniversary DIPA) pouring. And in a cool touch the list is beamed onto the wall via the overhead projector making for a cool twist on the beer list.

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Link N Hops

Link N Hops is the latest addition to the L.A.Craft Beer Scene.

It is a pretty and welcoming space next door to 55 Degree Wine (and beer) with lots of warming wood and a tremendous shiny wood bar.

The tap list during the soft opening had some local options in Eagle Rock Populist and Golden Road Point the Way as well as the Palate Wrecker from Green Flash. Oh and some nice Non-IPA options as well.

The tap lines had a beautiful photo-esque mural of an old L.A. bridge on the wall above them that matched silver for silver. And to complete the local touch the main communal table had the street names of the neighborhood stenciled on top.

And if you are a fan of the sausage and beer combo. Now you have another spot with quality sausage of both the vege and full meat versions.

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Vices & Versa

Craft beer and clever names go hand in hand. And thanks to the Beer Advocate magazine, I found another great one for a Canadian beer bar.

Vices & Versa is in Montreal and has 33 Canadian craft beers on tap from places like Hopfenstark, 3 Musketeers, Brasserie Dunham and more!

Whenever your beer travel takes you to Montreal, this should be a required stop.